


Another way

by krasnoe_solnishko



Category: Maleficent (Disney Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Bittersweet Ending, F/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2020-08-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:40:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25799851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krasnoe_solnishko/pseuds/krasnoe_solnishko
Summary: We would not be happy, trust me, he said.
Relationships: Aurora & Diaval (Disney), Diaval (Disney)/Original Female Character(s), Diaval/Maleficent (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Another way

**Author's Note:**

> Beta - Jeslieness. Thank you 🌹

Ravens were fooling around in the air.

Two of them locked their claws and promptly flew apart. Then again, and again. They came together with loud caw, caw, flapping their wings wildly and making all other sorts of warlike sounds, then drew back in opposite directions only to throw themselves at each other again. One more raven was cautiously circling around them. Poor soul, she kept crowing rather dramatically as if trying to show the two brawlers her utter dismay. 

Aurora giggled and closed the window. The days were getting shorter and evenings had become quite chilly. She fixed the shawl around her shoulders and nodded at the birds. 

"Do you miss their simple way of living?"

Diaval raised his head up from the papers he was holding in his arms. At that very moment the little grumbler of a she-raven let out another loud caw and dive-bombed, disappearing from their view. 

"As a matter of fact, I do. Both the simplicity and the clarity of it."

"How was it? To be someone else? Not a human?"

Diaval smiled indulgently and put his quill away. 

"I wasn't someone else. I was myself - the only self I knew at the time. Besides, as a raven I knew exactly who I was, what was expected of me. I had my own place in the course of things."

Aurora looked disturbed. 

"But you are still a raven, aren't you? You could join them. You are free now."

"Am I?" He raised his eyebrow and a bitter smile twisted his lips. He didn't clarify what gave him doubts: his own nature or the nature of his freedom. "We are all defined by our choices, my sweetheart. Mine were made long ago. I am no more free now than I was a year or ten years ago. But it's alright."

The young woman came closer and kneeled in front of him. She put her elbows on his knees and looked up in his eyes. 

"Do you regret it?"

He shook his head. 

"I do not. Isn't it funny? I truly do not." Diaval brought his hand to her forehead and brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Freedom holds no appeal to me, Aurora. Not anymore." He took his hand away and smiled cheekily. "After all, I am only a creature of habits, my sweetheart."

But Aurora didn't let his tricks distract her from what she deemed important. 

"You don't sound happy."

Diaval sighed. 

"I do not, you are right. But I am not unhappy either. Maybe unsatisfied in some way, aren't we all? My heart craves far more than I can have, it seems," he let out a self-deprecating laugh. "Worse for me."

Aurora frowned. 

"Does she know?"

"Who?"

She stared at him reproachfully. 

"Godmother."

"There is nothing for her to know."

Aurora pulled herself together, looking scandalised. 

"Do you truly believe that she doesn't care for you? After more than twenty years? Diaval, she would be devastated to know how miserable you feel inside!"

"One more reason to keep quiet," he muttered under his breath. But the determination burning in her eyes made him instantly sober up. "You won't disturb her with this nonsense, Aurora, will you? Whatever you have got in your mind, let it be."

She looked sincerely upset. And not persuaded in the least. He continued more urgently. 

"After all, my happiness was never in the equation. And it's all right, it is," he insisted. 

"But is it fair not to give her a chance," she tried once again in a softer voice, "a chance to do right by you? "

Diaval threw his arms in the air, quite out of his reserved character. 

"But should all my decisions be about her?" he fended off, utterly surprising Aurora. Then he breathed out loudly, visibly trying to get a grip of himself. "It's not about her chances, my precious fledgling. Consider it self-preservation."

Aurora traced a stitch on his pant leg with her index finger. Whatever he kept saying, she knew his weak spots, knew where to aim. 

"She has suffered so much, my Godmother, she would hate to learn that she's been inflicting the same..."

He interrupted her. 

"She would. Or she would not. I don't mean to find out. That's why you will not say a word."

"But... You could be happy together! I know! Everyone who's ever seen you together, knows it."

"Then they are all fools, and you're a dear child full of romantic nonsense." Aurora wanted to protest, but he moved her aside and stood up, not giving her a chance to contradict. "We would not be happy, trust me. We worked well as a mistress and a servant, and we still were not happy. I am not even sure if I would be able to bear the whole focus of her attention. What would I do with it? She would soon find me lacking and then she would grow to hate me for it. Maleficent is a force of nature, Aurora. She craves fight, she is so full of life I would bore her to death with my coddling and overprotection. Imagine me telling her about my feelings - the ones I was never meant to have in the first place. She will consider them a betrayal for I must have secretly harboured them all along. No, I much prefer things the way they are." He looked at her kindly. "You are young, Aurora, you still aspire to change the world. I am neither young, nor daring, and change is not so easy to bear when you have lived long enough to bury your own fledglings."

Aurora gasped and raised her hand to her lips. 

"You had... fledglings?"

"I did. Does it surprise you?"

"You never spoke about them. Not once!"

"No one ever asked."

He said it so simply that her heart clenched with sorrow. 

"Does Godmother know?"

He shrugged. 

"If she does, she's never mentioned it to me."

"Did you have..."

"A she-raven?" Aurora nodded cautiously. "I did. She is still alive, by the way, one of your court ravens." Her face must have showed something for he sighed and crouched down before her, taking her hands in his. "Don't be amazed. After all, a raven's lifespan while in captivity is almost as long as a human's."

Her eyes went round with shock. 

"Do you... see her often?"

Diaval shook his head. 

"Not anymore. In the beginning I used to fly to the castle every week or so - as often as Mistress let me. It was painful for her, my she-raven, but I was determined to preserve at least some part of my previous life untouched. All in vain. Humanity affected me in many ways leaving multiple marks all over myself. Every time I came back my she-raven found me a little bit altered until I changed too much for her to see me in the same light."

"She left you!" she accused, indignant on his behalf.

"I had left her first. After all it was me who had pledged his life to another."

"But don't ravens mate for life?"

"We do," he looked at her meaningfully. "We do."

Aurora lowered her hand. 

"You have made your choice."

He nodded solemnly. 

"Twenty years ago."

Aurora leaned forward and touched his forehead with her own. 

"I just wish you were happy. I want it so much."

"I know you do."

The ravens, playfighting outside, made another go at each other, as if unable to stay apart for long. The one sitting on the branch of the tree kept crowing from time to time, giving them disapproving glances. 

They were not for her to understand, it seems. Still, it doesn't mean that whatever they had didn't work. 

It did. Just in another way.


End file.
